Part 11: Good News

Video- “Chapter 4 Intro”

Watch the Intro

Woman: Like hell this is a coincidence. I came out here to meet you.
You never even sent me a single letter…
Man: It would never reach you, even if I had. Those guys would just rip it up.
Woman: That’s true… Oh, is he yours?
Man: He’s my traveling companion. Being alone’s not all fun and games.
Woman: Is that so? You’ve so changed.
Man: Care to join me?
Woman: Are you kidding? I have things to take care of…




Classes started back up, and we got some exciting news today.



Okay, okay. Quiet down. Now, about this term’s courses…
Oh, and don’t forget, we have the School Festival coming up this term.
I know you’re excited, but make sure you finish all your Assignments first.
Leo: What’s gonna be at the Festival?
As usual, we’ll have food stands, presentations… And then, a big event.
I think this year it’s a duo-tag-team battle arena.
The winners get prizes. So if you’re interested, I suggest you sign up.
Well, that’s all for today!

Nikki wanted to enter the battle arena with me, but it seemed I was already spoken for.



I don’t really want to…
Me neither. It sounds so barbaric.
Well, I wanna do it. Hey Vayne, let’s enter together!
Huh? Me?
Sorry, but Vayne’s already booked.
Booked? What do you mean?
I already submitted our entry form. It’s gonna be you and me, Vayne.
Whaaa!? You didn’t even ask me…
Aww, too bad. I guess I’ll just watch this time.
But, isn’t it strange for Flay to participate in a school event?
Heh heh heh… Haaahahaha!
It took a while, but I’ve finally obtained my goal. Take a look at this!

It seems that all that time and those injuries were all from trying to convince that huge Mana to make a pact with him, and he finally succeeded.



Wow! When’d you get that?
Gotta say, it’s pretty cool looking.
…They’re giving me a headache. Don’t call me out unless you need me.
He seems pretty grumpy…
Anyway, now I can train you better. And to kick it off…
Wh-what are you planni--?
First up, Vayne! Let’s go train. We’re in it to win it!
Wait a minute, hold o—Ahh, help me!
System Message: Flay has joined your party.
Good luck, you two.
I’ll bring you some snacks later.
Well, now that the loud one’s gone, let’s do some Assignments.

Flay wasn’t done for the day, though, when we got back in he had something new to shout about.



What’s wrong, Flay?
I’m the one asking, what’s going on here!
About what?
No one’s written in the schedule chart!
Schedule? We have such a thing…?
Geez. I step aside for a bit and look at you. How disappointing.
What? It’s your fault for not explaining about the workshop to us.
Is that so? I thought I already explained it…
Fine. I’ll explain it to you again, so listen up and be thankful.

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 101: Task Sharing
Task Sharing is a pretty cool little feature. The basic idea of it is that we’re giving the rest of the party stuff to do in their free time. We have three options with this. We can have people go Search in an area, which will award them with some AP. We can also send them to Gather in an area, which will provide us with some materials endemic to said area (including often some rare and useful ingredients if we have the right person in the right area). Our third option is to have them Synthesize, which allows them to create anything we’ve made before. The rate produced depends on what we’re asking for and who’s supposed to make it, generally anything worthwhile is produced one/week or one/two weeks. Most of what we’ll be creating with this are annoying things that are also common raw materials like some accessories or some of the very complicated normal items.

Flay was on a roll, and decided to go into some more explanations.



Yeah, I think so…
That was a pretty good explanation for you.
Hwahaha! Don’t praise me.
Alright. I’m feeling pretty good today.
So I’ll teach you about splitting roles in battles while I’m at it.

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 101: Formations
So, now that we have more than three party members, we can’t have everyone out at once in battle. There are three possible positions in our Formation: Vanguard, Support, and Standby. Our Vanguard are out on the battlefield, and whoever we set as Vanguard on the Formation screen defaults as out. Support characters are in the backfield. They can switch with our Vanguard by command, but it’s much better to use them in a Support action instead. Supporting lets us switch them in either after an ally attacks or before an enemy attacks, and later in the game will have substantial benefits. Even better, characters who are currently in the Support role will regain SP in battle, which will allow us to use skills a lot more. Standby characters don’t take part in battle or get AP, but do recover HP and SP over time.

We were all quite worried about him, honestly...



Uh huh…
…Hey. Are you really Flaya?
To be able to explain all that normally…
Yeah. It’s hard to believe…
How rude. I’m a man who does what he must when the time is right.
Maybe he’s sick or has some sort of fever…
Wait here! I was just making this one medicine!
Huh, Jess’ medicine…?
Mmhm. It’ll make you feel very energetic! …For just 3 days.
What happens after three days? I’m not even sick to begin with.
Oh, give it up. Vayne, hold him down over there!
Okay.
Nrg, let me go! Vayne, how could you?
Nikki, you know what’s going on! You think this is funny, don’t you!?
Oh I dunneow. Watcha talking aboutiewho?
Here, Flay. Open wide. Ahh!
Stop it. Don’t come any closer… Noooooo…

We haven’t gotten our first Assignment yet, so we’re doing a bit of alchemy to get warmed up. Flay seems to have a real intuition for this stuff.



Nikki, what’s wrong?
I want to break this root and boil it down but… it’s so hard…
Can I see? Oh wow it really is hard…
What are you doing?
Oh Flaya, break this for me, will you?
Why break it? Just boil it whole. Here.
Hey, no! I had everything measured!
A tidy synthesis is not my style. Just put in more of the other ingredients!
Ahhh, this is terrible…
Well, it’s complete…
I wonder if it’s okay…
You worrisome buggers. Let me. *gulp * *gulp * Yum! Delicious!
Really? Let me try… Oh, you’re right.
Wow, it really turned into a healing potion…
Of course, I made it.
How could such a rough synthesis work out well…
I guess in a good sense, you can say it’s manly.
I’ve heard of man’s cooking, but I guess this is man’s synthesis…

Also, this might be the day Nikki stops eating in the Workshop.



What’s wrong?
I can’t find the mushroom I harvested yesterday… Have you seen it?
Not me… Nikki?
Hreh, fai fafn’t feen it.
…Nikki?
*gulp * I said I really don’t know!
*sigh * I have to go get another one, then…
Next time, tell me if you’re hungry. I’ll give you real food.
I said, it’s not me.
It’s okay, forget it. But more importantly, did you cook it thoroughly?
Eh? It’s a mushroom. Raw is fine, isn’t it?
But that mushroom was pretty poisonous…
Seriously!? Urgh! My body… is tingly…!
Nikki! Oh no. Hurry, we need the antidote…
Leave her alone for a while, as punishment for stealing and eating.
But…
She’ll be fine. It’s not a lethal poison.
I’b zorry… I bon’t bo it adain zo bwease delp…

Anyway we got on with our syntheses while Nikki was trying to shake off the poison mushroom.



I think I know why Jess wanted the mushroom, though it’s not reassuring at all.



Huh? What is it?
Why is it that when we use this medicine, it cures poisons and paralysis?
Uh, well… it’ll heal on its own, but this just makes it faster…
I think it’s no fun if you just cure it.
Actually, it’d be even more fun if we can keep poisons and stuff forever.
Uhm… I don’t quite understand this “fun” you see in it…
I think I can make it if I tweak this medicine a bit. Maybe I’ll try it out.
I like your idea, but I don’t think that’s the right way to use it.
System Message: Item: Preservative can now be made.

I also made a terrible mistake earlier.



For future reference don’t make references to age around ghosts.



What makes you say that?
You’re blatantly making flammable liquids at school.
It’s not like I’m going to burn it, though. It’s used for medicine.
Oh, is that so?
Speaking of which, paint thinner can clean more than just paint.
Oh, interesting.
It has stronger solvent power than water, so it gets dirt off easily.
Ah… You know a lot.
Oh, it’s nothing. Hehe.
What is it called again? …Oh yeah! Grandma’s words of wisdom.
*glare * What’s that supposed to mean?
Are you calling me a grandma?
What? No… I just wanted to compliment you for how knowledgeable you are.
I know I’ve been a ghost for a long time, but I still look very young.
Sorry, I really didn’t mean it like that…
Vayne… we really need to talk, one-on-one. Hehehehehe!
Wha! Don’t pull on me! I’m sorry! I’ll never say it again!
Hehehehehehehe… I’m not going to let you sleep tonight…
System Message: Item: Black Liquid can now be made.

Pamela got bored eventually, fortunately, and I’m hoping she’ll forget to continue haunting me later.



Of course I traded that immediately for Flay so I’m not sure I really gained anything.



What’d I do wrong? You don’t look pleased.
I don’t like the color.
Really? Maybe I made a mistake with the synthesis…
It’s not a matter of failing the synthesis.
Say, Vayne, what is your favorite color?
Uh, black and white, I guess.
Fool! A defender of justice is always red!
Black and blue are for sidekicks. Don’t even get me started on white!
What are you talking about?
It doesn’t matter. Just make red colored steel! That’s an order!
Y-yes, sir…
System Message: Item: Red Steel can now be made.

We rolled out a lot of new items that we’d been working on.

















I even spent a whole bunch of time on a really detailed robe.



By this point Nikki could move again, and was apparently still hungry.



Hm? What’s wrong?
Don’t you think it’s wrong to be sewing each and every little stitch?
Why? It’s kinda fun…
I think it should be more alchemic and like, bam! Instantly done.
But we’re using cloth, so we have to be careful. There’s sizes, too.
Hmm… Then let’s forget cloth. Make it with candy!
That’s impossible…
Doing normal stuff isn’t gonna make you a great alchemist, you know?
These unexpected opinions are where new discoveries are made…
Nikki, you’re starting to sound like Flay…
Wh-what did you say!? That’s the one thing you should never ever say!
S-sorry. That was mean…
I’ll never forgive you! As punishment, you must make a robe out of candy!
So it’s merely just a game of punishment now, huh…
Did you say something!?
No, nothing at all…
System Message: Item: Chocolate Robe can now be made.

Pamela saw one of those tangerine caps and had an idea for a similar one based on it…



Um, well it’s not bad, but… it could use a few more decorations.
Decorations? Hmm…what kind do you think would look nice?
Let’s see… How about a Lando fruit?
Lando? You mean with those thorny spikes?
Mhhm. Thorny spikes all over the hat. Don’t you think it’d be cute?
I guess it’ll work… But that means I’ll have to start all over…
Aww, it’s no good? And here I thought it was a good idea…
Oh, no, I’m sure it’s good…
I’ll just make another one. A Lando hat, okay?
Really? I’m so excited!
*sigh * I know she’s faking, but I always end up getting tricked…
System Message: Item: Lando Cap can now be made.

I really never learn.



Hm? What is it?
How long have you been at this school?
Um… I don’t really remember.
Oh, but I met Bernard’s grandpa when he was a student.
The Principal’s grandpa…
Then like a hundred years? Maybe even more?
Wow… So you stayed here the whole time? Have you ever gone outside?
Now that you mention it, no I haven’t.
If we didn’t mention it…
Oh, no. I think I remember trying to get outside once, but I couldn’t…
Oh? Why?
Um… I forget. It was a long time ago. But why are you curious about that?
*gasp * Are you trying to kick me out!?
N-no! I was just kind of curious.
That’s it. I’m going home already.
Wait, Pamela!
Uh oh. You made her mad.
Yeah… But I still wonder. Why can’t she leave the school…?